Cta To Buy 230 High-capacity Buses For $100 Million

Accordion-style Vehicles To Be Used On Busy Lakefront Routes

January 09, 2001|By Jon Hilkevitch, Tribune Transportation Writer.

The Chicago Transit Authority board approved a $100.4 million contract Monday to purchase up to 230 new accordion-style buses that will help increase passenger capacity on the high-traffic lakefront routes to the Loop.

As they took steps to prepare for the future by buying the longer buses, which are expected to be in service in less than 3 years, CTA officials also focused Monday on the immediate problem of higher operating expenses caused by a surge in energy prices.

The transit agency's natural gas costs are more than double initial projections, so on Monday officials were forced to kick in another $3 million to cover themselves through May.

The officials added that fuel costs to run the CTA's almost 1,900 diesel-powered buses and other equipment in 2000 were $7 million over budget through November. The agency's electricity tab, which pays for everything from lighting to providing the 620-volt current that races through the third rail on train lines, exceeded last year's budget by $700,000 through November.

In anticipation, the CTA increased its total energy-consumption estimates for 2001 by more than 40 percent over last year, said Dennis Anosike, senior vice president of finance. Anosike added that he didn't see a let-up in prices until after the second quarter of the year.

But CTA officials said they can absorb the costs, perhaps by making cuts in other parts of the budget. They said they would keep their vow not to increase fares this year. The CTA's suburban counterpart, Pace, has indicated that higher operating costs could force a fare hike as early as the summer.

The new 60-foot-long CTA buses, which feature an articulated mid-section connecting two air-conditioned passenger compartments, will be outfitted with 62 seats and begin service in 2003, primarily on the busy routes serving the downtown from the Far North and South Sides along Lake Shore Drive, CTA president Frank Kruesi said.

The $33.8 million base order for 80 new articulated buses and spare parts from North American Bus Industries Inc., of Anniston, Ala., comes out to $420,826 per vehicle. The $100.4 million contract will provide up to 230 buses and spare parts.

Bus ridership, which accounts for two-thirds of the CTA's 1.5 million daily rides, rose by almost 4 percent last year. But the growth, which since 1998 turned around a 17-year ridership decline, has resulted in complaints that CTA management has failed to keep pace with demand, as evidenced by jam-packed buses and long waits between buses during the rush hours.

Many of the complaints from riders are directed toward the high-volume runs--the No. 6 Jeffery Express, the No. 14 South Lake Shore Express, and the No. 147 Outer Drive Express--routes intended to be served primarily by the articulated buses.

Only 41 of the 125 55-foot articulated buses that the CTA originally put into service in 1982 are still on the street, however, and the frames on most of those have rotted severely due to winter road salt. The CTA last year purchased 113 used 60-foot articulated buses from the Seattle King County Metro system to bridge the equipment gap while awaiting new buses.

Last month, the first of 469 new standard-sized buses that the CTA purchased in 1998 entered service.